Krystal stared worriedly at Sunset as she sat before the river that ran through the Walled City, staring into the water. She'd passed through straight up sorrow, and she'd stopped throwing a tantrum over having the book of necromancy taken away, and she had apparently moved on to moping. Shifting nervously, she made her way over to her daughter's side. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.
"<...why'd you take the book away?>" Sunset asked sadly, for some reason choosing to speak in the Dinosaur tongue. Then again, she was perfectly fluent in it now, and it was where they were. Perhaps she felt no need for privacy in this conversation...which Krystal took as a good sign.
Deciding to follow along, Krystal slipped into the language. "Sunset, <Death Magic is not something to be trifled with. It can have long reaching, dangerous consequences, both to the caster and the subjects. What made you think bringing your Grandfather back to life was a good idea?>"
"<I wasn't trying to bring him back to life,>" Sunset countered with a frown on her face. "<I know that would take life magic and a willing soul to do right, and really bad if done wrong. I'm young, not stupid.>"
Krystal blinked in surprise. "<Then...what were you doing with that book of Death Magic?>"
"<I asked Shabunga for a book on dealing with departed souls,>" Sunset explained simply. "<I thought that would be a good place to start as far as opening a communication channel to Grandpa's soul, especially since I remember you telling Dad something about him hanging around. That way I could talk to him about what happened on Venom and get the whole story.>"
Krystal opened and closed her mouth several times as she struggled to rationalize what Sunset had just told her with what she'd seen. "<But...why didn't you tell us that's what you were trying to do? We thought you were trying to raise him so you could have two Grandpas, or something.>"
"<I tried!>" Sunset complained bitterly. "<But it's a lot easier for me to explain things in Dinosaur, but Dad and Uncles were only listening in> Lylat Standard."
Krystal rubbed her forehead ruefully. "<Okay, but why did you need a book on Death Magic? You've got more than enough magic to power a seance, and the instructions for that were in the spellbooks that came with you! You could hook a> Ouija Board <up to a> Text-to-Speech device!"
Sunset stared up at Krystal, her eyes wide. "<Uh...I never thought of that...>" As Krystal facepalmed, Sunset tried to defend her actions. "I wanted to attune a speech-related device to Grandpa's spiritual wavelength so he could speak to us whenever he wanted, and from there work on attaching a few manipulators. Then I could go from that to building him a robotic golem to possess!" As much of what she was explaining had no parallels in the Dinosaur language, she was forced to shift back into Lylat Standard.
"...where did you get the idea to build him a robot body?" Krystal demanded in surprise.
"Uncle Birdy," Sunset allowed happily. "Heard him talking about it with not-Aunt Katt after you talked to Dad about Grandpa hanging around Dad."
Krystal shook her head ruefully. "Why am I not surprised?"
Sunset glanced around, finally noticing something. "Where's Dad? And everyone else?"
"They were called away on a mission to Titania," Krystal explained softly. "It was a matter of urgency, so I stayed here to take care of you, since you wanted to stay here rather than come back to the ship at the time. They'll be back soon."
"Oh..." Sunset looked up at the sky in concern. "How soon?" She shifted nervously.
"It shouldn't be too long," Krystal reassured her. "It didn't sound like it would be that big of a job. Just some brigands or something, from what Rob said."
At that moment, an Ar-Wing flew down through the atmosphere to land on the landing pad within the Walled City. Sunset immediately got to her hooves and ran towards it, Krystal as quickly after her as she could manage. Even so, Sunset was easily able to outrun her mother, her body naturally built for fast running. As Sunset reached the Ar-Wing, she gasped in surprise at the one inside. "Uncle Birdy?"
"Hey kid," Falco replied as he leapt out, landing in front of Sunset and kneeling down to ruffle her flowing hair, so thick it could only be called a mane. "Glad to see you. Feeling better?"
"More stupid," Sunset admitted ruefully. "Didn't need a Necromancy text to hook a Speak-and-Say to a Ouija Board..."
Falco blinked in surprise, then laughed. "You just wanted to talk to him?"
"Yeah!" Sunset insisted. "You heard me fuss enough with Grandpa over his stories to know I hate the incomplete ones!"
Falco shook his head in amusement as his laughter faded. "Well, I'm glad you're here and I can talk to you. There's...something I need to tell you."
"Is not-Aunt Katt going to be Aunt Katt?" Sunset asked hopefully.
"No, definitely not," Falco insisted. "She's already got someone else. But...it is somewhat related to that." He glanced upward as he tried to shape words. "Look, Fox and I...we got into a rather serious...disagreement. And...well, with who I am and how I feel right now, I just can't stay under his command right now. So I'm gonna need to fly solo for a while."
"Uh huh." Sunset nodded her understanding of what he was saying...though she didn't quite understand.
"That means I'm not going to be living on the Great Fox," Falco clarified.
Sunset's eyes widened. "You're...you're going away...?" she whimpered, her eyes starting to tear up.
"Hey, don't be like that," he spoke up quickly, pulling her into a comforting hug. "It won't be forever, and I'll still call to talk to you on important events. I'll even be sure to send you presents if I miss a birthday. I just...can't be around Fox for a while."
"But...you'll be back?" Sunset asked hopefully.
"Promise," Falco confirmed, tussling her mane again before standing up. He then glanced at Krystal and winked. "See ya around, sweet cheeks!" With that, he leapt back into his Ar-Wing and took off.
"...what was that about?" Krystal asked, having missed most of the conversation.
"Ask Daddy," Sunset replied as she watched the ship fly off.